A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with an internal combustion engine is generally not feasible to run in pure electric drive mode at ambient temperatures below 15° C. since the fuel operated heater combined with an electric pump is not sufficient for providing the requested passenger compartment and internal combustion engine thermal targets (the latter to facilitate acceptable vehicle take-off performance at driving mode shift from electrical drive mode to an ICE-initiated one (e.g. HEV, ICE-drive or AWD)). In a regular hybrid vehicle, i.e. a vehicle that only runs short distances on electric drive, heating is not an issue since the internal combustion engine is run regularly which helps increase the temperature of the coolant sufficiently for a period of pure electric drive while maintaining requested internal combustion engine and passenger compartment temperatures.